september 2019. welcome to the void.

[modblob]

Who: Everyone in Anchor.
What: Third Introductory Mingle
When: The Month of September 2019
Where: Around and outside the city.
Warnings: Please add any warnings in the subject lines.

Redshift: Welcome to the v͖͕̺̲̘̱̜͎o̴̦̣̠̦̘̹͞i̯̖d̛̪̬͈̱̦̝͍̕.

Click here to read what characters will experience when arriving in Anchor.

a. turrets.

That power surge kicked off some sh... stuff, all right. It took a while for the systems to cycle back on, but two new areas of Anchor are now accessible and usable. One of them is nice and relaxing and safe, and we'll get to that one in a minute. The other one, addressed first, is not very nice and not very relaxing and definitely not safe.

The internal defense systems on the upper levels have come to life, and have targeted anyone within their range as a hostile entity. Get ready to run the gauntlet if you want to turn them off - you'll have to dodge lasers, bullets, and aggressive defense bots (that can be rewired and/or rebooted to assist characters instead of trying to murder them). The reward? Getting to the heavily protected (think many many murderbots and lasers) security control room. If you can make it, you'll be able to reboot the internal defenses, turning off the aggressive targeting and having access for the first time to surveillance of almost all of Anchor. Those areas your characters didn't know were there? Revealed. Those dense patches of jungle-like growth in the agricultural center? You've got a spotlight into their heart.

Though, huh, not all the cameras seem to be working. What's with those screens that show up from time to time that are nothing but static?

Oh well, doesn't really matter, does it?

b. hot springs episode.

One of the areas adjacent to the bar and intimacy lounge has been sputtering on and off ever since the power surge. One evening, with a loud crack and a humming sound that slowly dissipates, the lights come on and water starts flowing down the artificial waterfall into the fountain out front. The spa is back online!

The lobby is inviting and zen, with holographic walls that depict scenic locations (some of them very unlike Earth), with fountains splashing delicately on either side of the door. The attendants are slightly malfunctioning bots, but the most harm they'll do is bring you six towels when you ask for one, or a bucket of massage oil to work on those knots in your back with.

There are three areas in the spa, each of them fully-outfitted with towels, robes of all sizes, fuzzy slippers, the works. One has all the amenities of a Turkish bath, right down to the fantastically arched roofs and mosaics of Istanbul. One is designed not unlike a Japanese hot spring, though the spring is heated artificially rather than naturally. The springs are large enough to be communal in some areas and small enough to be private in others, varying in depth from deep enough to swim on one end and shallow enough to sit on the bottom on the other. All hot springs have a stone shelf around the edges where those who don't want to swim can sit. The last area is more Western, with steam rooms, saunas, massage tables, and mud baths for the adventurous.

One thing all of these areas have in common: the settings on virtually everything can be adjusted to taste. Not in the traditional way, either. The steams and waters can be tweaked to be soporific, can serve as muscle relaxants, can ease anxiety, and can even bolster moods. None of these effects are involuntary, and none of them are brought on by drugs - it's more an advanced mix of pheromones and harmless compounds that can affect a single person or a given pool or room. Also, the baths and hot springs have adjustable bubble settings. The water colors can change, some of them even allowing characters to dye their hair the color that's been selected for the tub without staining their skin. Bubbles of all kinds can rise up out of the water, from the foamy comfort of childhood bubble baths to hovering golden bubbles that chime when you pop them. Characters can choose from a variety of bath salts, scents, and oils - the spas were designed not just for relaxation, but for pure and simple fun.

c. joe's dirt.

So you've survived the security malfunction. You've washed off the dirt and anxiety at the spa. But the newly reactivated security stations throughout Anchor have revealed something odd. There's a blip in the power systems in one area of the agricultural level, like something is siphoning off power from the main lines. Tracking down the source in the deep tangle of underbrush won't be easy, and there may be a few mutated, fanged, clawed cattle that maneuver shockingly well between the trees, but eventually you'll come to a breach in Anchor's wall. At first it just looks like a crack, but it's large enough to squeeze through and there's the darkness of an open space behind it. A tunnel, leading down into the earth outside, well below surface level and thus largely safe.
Wires run along the roof and floor, though the tunnel itself is dark. Walk long enough and you'll come to a wider space, open enough for two or three people to move around comfortably at the same time. It's still dark, lit only by screens that show the same security feeds that are available at the stations throughout the city. And others. Angles on the surface that show Anchor from a distance, and other visuals that don't show Anchor at all, trained instead on massive structures or formations or lakes out on the surface somewhere. But there's something more disturbing: there are cameras set to record some people's rooms. And the only rooms that are shown are occupied.

Someone has been here, recently enough to track where new people have moved in.

On the floor in one corner, there's a crumpled photograph of a man some might recognize as Creepy Joe, happy and whole, with a little girl sitting on his shoulder. It looks like it's been stamped into the dirt.

Navigation.

Comments

[itsnotaonesie]

[That wasn't an argument, Peter's just tellin' it like it is. Qubit's making it an argument!!! Totally, that's totally whats happening for sure.

Peter wants to say "PSH like your old, slow ass could have stopped me", but he refrains, because he is too polite. Despite that though, he is straight up having a teenager moment right now.]

It's sterile! And I was a little more concerned over you cooking your own brain. I know I'm gonna heal, I have no idea what to expect from you, y'know? You just swoop in all yo, check out my crazy machine breakin' magic, and then you just drop like a sack of middle aged bricks!

[superposition]

It's not magic!

[ Yes, that's the part that offended him most. He points to whatever closet the medi-gel is kept in - there's a bandaging robot, right? That's probably a thing. ]

You get that mess cleaned up now. That's an order.

[itsnotaonesie]

[you come to MY HOUSE

Peter just looks astounded for a moment, like did this fool just roll up in here and try to tell Peter what to do???? Peter, who's been running this shit on his own without adult supervision since the day he got here, and this absolute disaster of a human being with the worst hair in the universe trundles on in and tries to give him an order??? Bitch please.

Peter really does need to address his open, bleeding wound situation, but instead of doing that, he's going to cross his arms and fix Qubit with the most rebellious "I dare you to come over here and say that to my face" look he can manage.

Bring it on.]

[superposition]

[ For a few seconds Qubit just... stares at him (squints, more accurately), genuinely baffled as to why Peter isn't going. Then he stops to think about it more than not at all.

He has no authority to order Peter around. The only possible basis for it lies in the age difference, the tacit premise that children should obey their elders. But that premise doesn't hold water, especially in a situation like this. The child was the one who kept his head, while the adult panicked and did something stupid.

Qubit squeezes his eyes shut and rubs his forehead. ]

Fine. Fine. Just... promise me you will get it looked at before you leave.

[ Wait no, that was still bossy, wasn't it. Uh. ]

Please.

[itsnotaonesie]

[damn right "please". Good manners will get you a lot further than being a big bossy weenie. Peter visibly relaxes, even giving Qubit a little nod before moving over to a table to take care of his injury.]

On it.

[He peels the webbing away and yanks his shirt off, immediately regrets doing that because now the bleeding's started again, and just presses his bundled up shirt to his side while he digs around for supplies. While he gets ready to patch himself up, he decides that it's time for some idle chit chat. Some suspicious idle chit chat.]

Y'know, I never actually told you my last name.

[But apparently, Qubit already knows it. INTERESTING.]

[superposition]

[ Qubit breathes a sigh of relief. Whatever, good. As long as he's actually doing it. It's not the first time he's had to swallow his pride like this, and it won't be the last. If they ever run out of food, at least he'll have humble pie to fall back on.

That relief only lasts until Peter peels off his field dressing. The wound's worse than he thought, and he thought it was terrible. And yet... the kid powered through it to drag around some sack of middle-aged bricks, left it untreated to stay with him, and in the end just got yelled at for his trouble. That's hardly fair.

But before he can cobble together an apology, the subject has changed.

Qubit freezes for a second, mentally backtracking through the incident. Did he-? Oh. Yeah. He sure did yell "Parker" at the top of his lungs. No getting around that. ]

That... that's true.

[ He sounds calm, mostly, but his mind is racing. If he'd been thinking, he'd never have let on that he knew. Secrets are his armor, and Peter's just found a chink in it. But... wait, no, he realizes, that's not an essential secret. He can safely give it up, if he's careful. Though it will require some context. ]

... This is ... not the first time I've been Ported to another world.

[itsnotaonesie]

And while you were at the first one, you met another guy named Peter Parker who could also do the spider thing.

[Peter sounds completely unphased by this. Either he's just that used to weird bullshit, or he's just hyperfocused on trying to get his wound cleaned up. This would be easier if he'd stop bleeding, so he gives up on cleaning for a little longer and goes back to pressing against his side, this time with sterile bandages, so at least there's some improvement.]

It's not really that weird, there seems to be a few of us out. Hell, at the last place I was stuck I ran into another Peter Parker who could do the spider thing. He was taller than me, but not as good looking.

[superposition]

[ Oh. Huh. Well, that saves him some trouble. ]

So you're familiar with the concept. Saying I knew him would be overstating it, but we were acquainted.

[ He leaves out the rest. How the name sticks in his mind solely vis-a-vis Tony Stark... and what Stark did to that Peter Parker. (Fuck Tony Stark, that's the real takeaway here.) ]

He was taller, though. [ Can't resist that little jab. ]

[itsnotaonesie]

But I am still better looking, right? [He doesn't actually care but I mean maybe he does a little okay. But nah, he's joking. But maybe he's not. A little.

But anyway, he pauses to sort some of his medical supplies out on the table, and now that his bleeding seems to have stopped, he's going to

...actually just stare at his wound rather than slap this medi-gel stuff on it because it stings he doesn't wanna.]

But nah, I know all about this kinda thing. Kinda been living it for over a year now. Met all kinds of people from all kinds of different universes. Nothing really surprises me anymore.

[superposition]

[ Yeeeah, no comment. But think about it, Peter, in what universe would it be better if he answered that question?

Qubit can understand the sentiment, kind of. He'd been living the interdimensional life for almost a decade prior to his work with the Paradigm, and even managed to strand himself in other worlds a couple of times. But it's one thing to do it voluntarily, as he did; it's another thing entirely to be sucked into that life against your will.

True, it bugs him how cynical Peter sounds about it, but on the other hand he can't really blame him. Neither of them is in a great mood right now, anyway. After a long moment, he sighs and drags himself to his feet. ]

At least let me give you a hand with that.

[itsnotaonesie]

[When the conversation abruptly changes to his wound, Peter immediately goes on the defensive because HE'S FIIIIINE, and also he's being a total brat today.]

It-- it's fine, man, I got it.

[Well actually, maybe he don't got it. He looks down at it again, frowns, and just gives Qubit a defeated little shrug.]

I-- okay, maybe I don't got it. Should- should I uh, sit down? Lay down? What- where... where do you want me?

[superposition]

[ I mean, he did get shot. I can't say for sure how I would react to getting shot, but being a total brat is a strong possibility. Qubit gestures vaguely at the table or bed or whatever sittable surface is nearby. ]

Just hop up there and keep your arm raised.

[ He real quick stops at one of the many arcane medical devices around the room, sticks his hands inside like one of those air-blade hand dryers, and when he pulls them out, they're blue. Voila, spray-on gloves! Truly, we are living in the future. ]

[itsnotaonesie]

[Peter does as he's told, watching with interest while Qubit slaps on his insta-gloves. HUH.]

I was wondering what that machine was for.

[Mystery solved, it looks like. Peter raises his arm up once Qubit come over, and tries t mentally prep himself for the super fun pain that's about to come his way. Getting hurt in battle is nothing, it's the patching up process that Peter isn't a fan of.]

[superposition]

[ Qubit nods. Ow. ] Mhm. Versatile. Five-fingered hands are fairly rare, statistically. [ Like... among all possible species, everywhere. ]

[ Now, Qubit is not a doctor or battle medic. His bedside manner leaves something to be desired. But he is the party skill monkey, so first aid, he can handle. Especially when they've got nice future supplies. He tears open a pak of medi-gel, gives Peter some warning - ]

This may sting a bit. [ - and then starts dabbing it thickly onto the area. ]

[itsnotaonesie]

[THAT WASN'T ENOUGH WARNING

Peter doesn't flinch away, but he does wince and have himself a very difficult time of keeping his arm above his head. He still does it, though! But he may have permanently dented the side of the bed that he's gripping with his other hand. WHOOPS.]

A bit!? What is in that stuff!?

[superposition]

[ dryly ] Oh, hush. It's good for you.

[ Idk, chemicals probably? Nanomachines? Who cares, it makes you heal good. (Well, obviously Qubit cares, but he's already looked it over at some point.) He does the rest of it fairly quickly - best to get it over with, right? It's the kind of thing that there's no comfortable way to do. ]

There. Now let it sit for... what was it, five to seven minutes? [ He checks the back of the packaging again. ] Five to seven. And try not to touch it while it's bonding.

[itsnotaonesie]

[Peter shoots Qubit a look that would suggest that he is extremely annoyed about being told to hush. EXCUSE YOU QUBIT. Peter's just not used to being told what to do by adults anymore, if only because he hasn't had a chance to just be a kid for... kind of a long time. He's lost track. Kinda hard to be a teenager when you're constantly worried that something terrible is going to happen if you don't stay on top of your game at all times.

Ultimately he just huffs and tries as hard as he can to sit still. He plants his hands on his knees and doesn't touch his side at all, but damn it's not fun.]

It itches like crazy. I mean, it always does when I get hurt and my skin's like, stitching itself back together real fast? But this is like a hundred times worse.

[superposition]

[ With that taken care of, Qubit peels the gloves off and throws them away, then grabs a chair and an ice pack and takes a seat nearby, pressing the ice to his forehead. It's only now that he notices the handprint in the edge of the bed - good lord, how strong are you, Peter? - but he doesn't mention it. ]

All that and you have a healing factor, too?

[ Huh. So did Samsara.

... God. Why does Peter have to keep reminding him of Sam? This is terrible. He sighs again, irritated at himself this time. ]

[itsnotaonesie]

That spider that bit me hooked me up real good. Just sayin'. But yeah, that's why I wasn't too worried about sitting around for a bit while I waited for you to wake up.

[Sorry Qubit, he's not trying to 8(

He was about to get up and try to find something to cover himself up with because it's actually pretty chilly in here without a shirt, buuut Qubit's looking pretty rough.]

You gonna make it there, man? Y'know, the robots handle medication if you need something for that headache.

[superposition]

[ Even so, don't be so cavalier about your health! Geez... He has to wonder, how much of that is down to the healing factor, and how much is just regular teenage stupidity?

Oh right, medication. He knew he was forgetting something. Qubit looks over at the dispenser, debating whether it's worth it. ]

... I'll give it a minute.

[ aka yes, he would like something for that headache, but he just sat down and moving makes it worse. Still, it does remind him of something he can focus all his stress and anger on: the cause of the problem. ]

This shouldn't have happened. This never happens.

[ He's grumbling at first, but then shakes his head and goes back to normal volume. He's pissed about this, damn it. ] I've tested my powers inside and out. I know what my limits are. Dismantling a few robots ought to be child's play. I've built starships, for God's sake! This is nothing! So why does it keep backfiring on me?

[itsnotaonesie]

[Peter lets Qubit have his little cranky fit, scooting off the bed and crossing the room to the dispenser while he listens. He's gonna be a bro and get Qubit something for that headache, something that isn't going to knock him on his ass, grabs him a cup of water, and brings it over.]

Do you think maybe coming through the portal might have affected your powers somehow? Or maybe the radiation might be affecting it? I'm not really clear on how your powers actually work, I've honestly never seen anything like it before.

[superposition]

[ Qubit's eyes snap open, and he just... completely fails to notice the offered medicine. Because holy shit, Peter, you might have just got it in one. ]

Of course! The Porter! It's so obvious, why didn't I think of it sooner?!

[ He smacks his forehead with his palm. And immediately regrets it. ] Gahh.

[itsnotaonesie]

[Peter watches all this and somehow isn't even surprised. Qubit seems like the kind of guy who would totally do this exact thing.]

I'm a genius, you're welcome. Now please take this before you hurt yourself again.

[superposition]

[ Okay this time Qubit takes the pills, as quickly as possible. He doesn't even have time to be snide back at Peter, just launches straight into a mile-a-minute explanation. The implications!!! ]

The last world I was in - the machine responsible for abducting us was the Porter, capital P. But that wasn't all it did, it changed people. Nonhumans became human, anyone who didn't have powers before suddenly did. My powers weren't altered, so I assumed I wasn't affected - but of course I was, why would I be any exception?! And then to tack on another such portal's interference - there's no telling what kind of interactions it could cause! Good lord, it's a miracle I even showed up in one piece!

[itsnotaonesie]

[Dude Peter does his own mile-a-minute explanations all the time, he has no trouble keeping up with this. If anything he looks very interested, because he is a gigantic nerd and this is his JAM.]

So, suggesting you try hopping back through the portal to try to reverse it miiiiight not be a good idea. Gotta admit, I don't really have a lot of experience with ah, this specific sort of problem?